Award-winning playwright, director, and cultural activist Napo Masheane is taking the HerStory International Theatre Festival home. The Maluti Mountains of QwaQwa, her hometown in the eastern Free State, will provide the backdrop for the annual gathering for women’s theatre, storytelling, and cultural exchange.
The festival, which falls on Women’s Day weekend will run from August 7 to 10. It will see artists from across Africa and the world descend in QwaQwa while creating opportunities for a new generation of young women who dream of careers in the creative industries.
Masheane told Sunday World that bringing the world to Qwaqwa is deeply personal. She is making a conscious investment in her home community that she believes has been overlooked despite its rich cultural legacy.
“I’ve travelled all over the world carrying QwaQwa with me. Now I want to bring the world home. I want QwaQwa to become the theatrical hub of every woman, every girl, every sister and every grandmother’s story,” Masheane said.
Masheane has purposely designed the festival as a three-day cultural experience, encouraging visitors to immerse themselves in the region by hiking through the Maluti Mountains, exploring Golden Gate Highlands National Park, attending masterclasses, enjoying intimate concerts, and engaging with the locals.
“It’s not a festival where you arrive for one show and leave. We want people to experience QwaQwa in its entirety, its landscapes, its people, its culture, and its stories.”
Mentorship is also fundamental to the festival. This is why international artists from countries including Italy, Kenya, Lesotho, and Eswatini will present workshops in poetry, acting, producing, and script development, giving aspiring creatives from QwaQwa direct access to industry professionals.
“I often think about the younger version of myself. I want young girls growing up in QwaQwa to have opportunities that I never had. Every young girl deserves a point of reference, someone who looks like her, sounds like her, and comes from where she comes from.”
Masheane’s vision for this festival includes ensuring financial benefits for the local community, hence the partnership with local accommodation providers, tourism operators, and small businesses to generate income for those entities.
“The response from local businesses has been incredible. People are offering whatever they can, whether it’s accommodation, transport, technical support, or equipment. It has become a genuine community effort.”
This year also marks 70 years since the historic 1956 Women’s March. Masheane, who is also an activist and advocate for gender empowerment, expressed concerns about the apparent lack of national attention on the milestone anniversary.
“We’ve seen so much recognition for other historic anniversaries, but I kept asking myself: Where is the same energy for the women who changed the course of our history?”
She says the arts provide the most powerful platform to reclaim those stories.
“I’m not going to write academic papers. My language is theatre, poetry, music, and dance. That’s how I preserve history.”
Masheane hopes audiences will reconnect with the stories of mothers, grandmothers, sisters, and daughters whose contributions have too often been forgotten.
“We have to reposition HerStory within history. If we don’t tell these stories ourselves, who will?”
The playwright and artist want the festival to become an important calendar event that attracts new patrons and is prioritised by the older ones.
In a serendipitous way, artists from around the world are already planning their participation in future editions, with some sourcing funding in their own countries to travel to QwaQwa this year and beyond.
“My dream is that within the next decade, HerStory becomes one of the world’s leading theatre festivals for women.
“I want people across South Africa, across Africa, and across the world to know that if you’re looking for powerful storytelling, creativity, and connection, your journey should lead you to QwaQwa,” she said.
For Masheane, success goes beyond international recognition; she also wants visitors to leave QwaQwa transformed.
“I hope people discover themselves here. There’s something about the mountains, the landscape, and the spirit of this place that heals you.
“HerStory isn’t just about watching performances; it’s about reconnecting with yourself,” she said.
- Award-winning playwright, director, and cultural activist Napo Masheane is taking the HerStory International Theatre Festival home.
- The Maluti Mountains of QwaQwa, her hometown in the eastern Free State, will provide the backdrop for the annual gathering for women’s theatre, storytelling, and cultural exchange.
- The festival, which falls on Women’s Day weekend will run from August 7 to 10.
- It will see artists from across Africa and the world descend in QwaQwa while creating opportunities for a new generation of young women who dream of careers in the creative industries.
- Masheane told Sunday World that bringing the world to Qwaqwa is deeply personal.
